Similarities+&+Differences

Read & Reflect
What is the purpose of asking students/teachers to compare?
 * identifying similarities is a cognitive process to promote pattern recognition.

What kinds of activities do I use to help students/teachers compare?
 * link new content to previous topics by comparing them, showing relationships, etc.

I can think of a time that I asked students/teachers to compare, and I was pleased with the results. Why did it go well?
 * when training on webpage development, teachers compared posting images to adding attachments to an email. It helped connect knowledge and facilitate learning.

I can think of a time that I asked students to compare, and I was not pleased with the results. Why did it not go well?
 * when asking learners to compare two lecture captures tools, it didn't work because they were not familiar enough with the features yet. When learners do not have the prior knowledge to make these comparisons it is difficult to use this strategy.

What questions do I have about using comparing in my classroom?
 * not really

What is the purpose of asking students to classify?
 * classifying is a cognitive process to promote pattern recognition and build cognitive schemes

What kinds of activities do I use to help students classify?
 * Present content within meaningful topics, like a table of contents, categorize and name content and show relationships among the information.

I can think of a time that I asked students to classify, and I was pleased with the results. Why did it go well?
 * when asking learners to classify strategies by theory types and provide an explanation, it should their understanding of the theories.

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">I can think of a time that I asked students to classify, and I was not pleased with the results. Why did it not go well?
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">when asking learners to classify design models as procedural and conceptual it didn’t' go well and it should that they didn't fully understand conceptual models.

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">What questions do I have about using classifying in my classroom?
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">no

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">What is the purpose of asking students to create metaphors?
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">make mental connections, identify patterns, show relationships

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">What kinds of activities do I use to help students create metaphors?
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">ask them to give examples of metaphors of new content

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">What metaphors apply to the content areas that I teach?

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">Pick one & explain:
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">Technology is a hammer
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">Technology is a copier
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">Technology is a telephone
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">Technology is a school

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">What questions do I have about using metaphors in my classroom?
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">no

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">What is the purpose of asking students to create analogies?
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">make mental connections, identify patterns, show relationships, promote understanding, relevance and transfer of new learning

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">What kinds of activities do I use to help students create analogies?
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">I use them ALL THE TIME! I give them to students. I will now ask them to create the.

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">What analogies can I think of that apply to the content areas that I teach?
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">"It's like when you take your car in for service and the problem goes away. That's why it's working now"

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">What questions do I have about using analogies in my classroom?
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">no

Apply & Reflect


I am training staff on lecture capture. This Venn diagrams illustrates the tools we currently have and how they are similar and different.



I get questions from online teachers all the time about how to minimize the amount of time they spend answering email questions. This chart shows possible options.

This unit didn’t “click” with me. For the first time in this course I felt like I was completing “busy work – sorry. I felt that the reading went on too long and the concepts could have been review in one chapter instead of being broken up into three. These concepts are all so similar (pun intended) that they seemed redundant. Perhaps having us focus on the subtle difference among these strategies would have helped.